BY PAUL LIOTTI
Over the years, the Carrier Dome has been a friendly place for Aquinas.
Fourteen times the Irish have taken to the turf under the roof and 13 times they have come away with a victory.
Saturday afternoon, the Irish will look to make it 14-1 all time as they take on Section I’s New Rochelle for the Class AA title at 3 pm.
“I wouldn’t say it’s like a second home, but its goal for us every year to get there,” Aquinas coach Derek Annechino said. “Our kids won’t be awed playing there – especially since we played there earlier this season – we’re just going to go in and play the best we can.”
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This season the Irish started their year with a non-conference 42-24 win over downstate power Monroe-Woodbury and will look to finish their season with another win over a downstate power. But this time, the game has a lot more meaning.
“It’s been our statement all year long,” senior WR Kobe McNair said “Start in the Dome and finish in the Dome.”
Aquinas (11-1/No. 4 NYSSWA) has navigated a very difficult, wide-reaching schedule this year to survive and advance to the title game. Facing a ledger that included opponents from all across the state – including teams from Buffalo, Syracuse, Binghamton, Orange County, NY and even as far away as Washington, DC. – Aquinas has rolled. Its only blemish was an overtime defeat at the hands of Friendship Collegiate out of Washington, D.C.
The Huguenots (11-1/No. 3 NYSSWA) have rolled through their opponents this year. They actually beat all 12 opponents, but had to forfeit a Week 1 41-0 win over Yonkers Brave, when they used an ineligible player who didn’t have enough practices.
To get to this game, New Rochelle rallied from a 19-13 halftime deficit to score 14 unanswered second-half points to rally to a 27-19 win over Shaker in the semifinals. Aquinas meanwhile ran out to a 28-7 lead and then held off a Cicero-North Syracuse to log a 28-21 win.
New Rochelle brings a high-scoring, run-dominated offense to the game, but when broken down, the Huguenots are very similar to the Irish look and feel.
“Watching them on film all week they are a mirror image of us. They have great athletes at the skill positions, an offensive line that isn’t really big but they are tough kids, and a defense that really gets after it,” Annechino said. “With the exception they don’t throw the ball as much as we do, it’s like looking at our team on film.
“(Jordan) Forrest is a top-notch running back and we definitely have to take care of him,” Annechino said.
New Rochelle will rely heavily Forrest, a senior running back who last week ran for a career-high 285 yards and scored three times on explosive plays from 19, 65 and 73 yards. Forrest leads the team with 1,502 yards and 20 touchdowns rushing and is a threat to break the long run any time he touches the ball, as Shaker found out in the semifinals. Senior QB Mac Coughlin is efficient when passing the ball, totalling more than 1,000 yards through the air. In the semifinals, Coughlin coompleted seven-of-10 attempts for 109 yards and one score to Halim Dixon-King, who has caught at least one touchdown in each of the last six games.
Defensively, the Huguenots are anchored by defensive lineman Khairi Manns, who was named to the state’s Class AA Third Team a year ago.
The Huguenots, who have averaged 41.25 points per game this year while holding their opponents to just 11.3, are no strangers to the championship game, having won Class AA in 2003 and 2012, and were finalists in 2000, 2004 and 2009. They are coached by Lou DiRienzo who is finishing up his 26th season at the New Rochelle helm.
“Coach DiRienzo is a legend down there. He’s been there forever and has won a couple of state titles,” Annechino said. “They are a very well-coached team and they will be ready to play us.”
Aquinas is going for its unprecedented eighth state title. No other team in the state has won as many titles as the Irish, with the next closest most-decorated programs being Maine-Endwell (IV), Chenango Forks (IV) and Randolph (VI) with five titles each.
The Irish are 7-0 in championship games, winning Class A in 1998, 2001, 2002, 2007 and 2010; and Class AA titles in 2013 and 2015. The Irish also advanced to the Class A semifinals two other times once in 2006 and again in 2011.
The significance of getting to the Carrier Dome and the championship game is not lost on Annechino or the players, but given that they have been here often and have consistently suited up for big games, the Irish are ready for the big game atmosphere that the state title game in the largest classification holds in store.
Aquinas’s march to an eighth banner starts with sophomore QB Tyler Szalkowski, who has been steady and ice-water cool all season. After a two games played in nasty weather, he regained his form last week completing 13-of-14 passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns against CNS in the semifinals. On the year, he has completed 126-of-190 passes for 2,151 yards, 26 touchdowns against only three interceptions. He even caught his first touchdown pass on a nifty trick play off the Wildcat formation with McNair delivering the scoring pass.
“Tyler’s been fantastic this season,” Annechino said. “(In the games prior to) the C-NS game he didn’t have the kind of statistics people were used to, but at the end of the day he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do and the moment hasn’t been too big for him. He’s handled everything with maturity beyond his years.”
NcNair and sophomore WR Ulysees Russell are the two deep threats New Rochelle will have to lock down. McNair – who returned last week after missing two games with a concussion – has snared a team leading 44 balls for 798 yards and 10 touchdowns. Russell is an explosive receiver who averages more than 25 yards per catch, totaling 604 yards and nine touchdowns.
Behind Szalkowski is a thunder-and-lighting running game featuring workhorse junior Ruben Torres (the thunder) who topped 1,000 yards last week with a 138-yard performance against C-NS. Averaging 6.6 punishing yards every time he carries the ball, he’s the go-to back in short-yardage situations. When the Irish are looking for the big play, they turn to senior captain Caron Robinson (the lightning) who has gained 530 yards in the last four games after missing the previous six due to a thumb injury. Robinson, who was a fulltime player on the 2015 state title team, has averaged more than 14 yards per carry the last four games. His big-play potential will have the Huguenots wary when he touches the ball.
A senior offensive line is anchored by captains Nick Annechino and Rickey Todd, both of whom were also part of the undefeated 2015 team. So they know what it means to be here and won’t get caught up in the magnitude of the game.
Defensively, the Irish have established themselves as a hard-hitting wrecking ball crew who punish ball carriers and receivers alike. Their team speed will be needed to offset Forrest’s speed on the edge.
“These guys come and practice hard every day, but more importantly they have fun with each other and are in it for each other,” Annechino said. “We come out to play for each other and there is no one person or coach that is bigger than the other. We do what we have to do and put the best product on the table possible.”
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